Birding Ward Pound Ridge...Birding Dude

On Sunday, I connected with the Queens County Bird Club on a trip to Ward Pound Ridge in Westchester NY. I got there around 7:45 AM and on the drive in picked up several birds including Indigo Bunting. We began our walk down reservation road and picked up several birds including Barn Swallow, Eastern Bluebird, Chipping Sparrow, Field Sparrow and one of my target birds in a Blue Grosbeak. This bird which was a female had fellow birder Ian Resnick and I flummoxed when we first saw it in the distance as our first thought was that it was a female Indigo Bunting. However, as we got closer, we noticed the rufous wing-bars and called it. Our call was supported by Eric Miller another birder who had a scope with him and got a close up

looks. Interestingly, we observed a male Indigo Bunting chasing this female Grosbeak. Courting behavior perhaps? We continued, birding Reservation and Michigan roads as well as some off trails picking up several birds, butterflies, odes and Frogs. At the end of the day as some of us took shelter from the sun around the picnic tables adjacent to the parking lot on Michigan road, we observed Rat Snakes mating in a tree. It was pretty cool to watch them intertwining themselves, all the while taking care not to fall from the tree. I left the group around 5:00 and headed back to Queens. It was a very good outing and the Queens County bird club members were very nice and very knowledgeable. I am sure I will be going birding with them in the future. Tags: